I'll be with You by Dawn
by Terra Trepe
Summary: Squall, the leader of the White SeeDs. Seifer, the loyal knight of Ultimecia. When a mysterious woman Quistis with amnesia washes ashore, everything is about to change. !Seiftis & Squinoa! This story is set to the future world of Ultimecia. Not quite AU
1. Howl to the Moon

**A/N:**This story is set to the future world, the world where Ultimecia lives in the game and all the characters from the game are included to this world also. This is not AU (at least not a direct one) but more of a WHAT-IF-FIC. Confusing? I bet it is, but when you realise the main plot of this story, then it will all become clear.

Some of you may remember this story, as it has been up before, but I decided to post it again with some minor changes, hoping to get my inspiration back.

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**I'll be with You by Dawn**

Chapter1: **Howl to the Moon**

  
The heaven was filled with hazy clouds that were abided by the late sun caressing the mighty horizons around the castle. A top of the high peaked towers and the sharp roofs, the layers of mist never faded away, not even in the morning or in the brightest seasons, which were most rare in this particular area where ghosts and monsters were roaming under the cover of the deep tranquil shadows. 

This was the sight that stood there loyally. Scaring the people away from the distance.

Inside the sturdy but very sharp edged structure, the walls and old-fashioned furniture were dusty and darkened by their age. The wolfs' howls joined the winds roaming sound and wandered with it around the castle, taking over the dark corners and the damp surroundings, filling the castle with groans, screams and other indistinguishable noises, which gave chills to anyone who dared to visit it.

The walls were dark, messed up and foul, the corners were filled with thick spider webs, and the floor was completely on dust, giving this gothic fashioned castle a more scarier and haunting picture.

He looked down to the floor with an instant glare when the reeking smell of the castle invaded his nostrils while listening the mighty words of the majesty of his dreams. He was bent down on his one knee, acting as gallant as he could under her pressing gaze. Appreciating the scent that came down to him from her revealing garments, he felt the reek being washed away from his senses and being replaced by the scent that wowed him with eternal promises and hopes. The orders her smooth voice with a cold touch of icy flame announced down to him, came more or less in the way he had planned for in advance, and he continued listening to her briefing that was yearning for eternal blood.

"Yes, My Highness…" He repeated after the question she had asked, letting her know he understood the matter completely. His eyes ran along the stone floor and he could see the thin layer of gray dust on it, reminding him how old this place was.

The long and dirty trench coat hanged over the features of this man crouched down to the floor and the two red Hyperion crosses were embedded to the sides of those long sleeves. He had his loyal companion next to him, the one and only thing that had never failed him. His own beloved gunblade, Hyperion, he had named it.

"Make sure you kill them… I have no time to meddle with such mortals…" The blond man, her knight, lifted his emerald orbs to meet her devastating yellow ones, and the smirk, as wicked and arrogant as ever before, crossed to his lips when he heard her and understood her completely.

"Yes, My Highness… I will take them out with my own sword…"

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She walked slowly around the castle's library, admiring the big and roomy bookshelves filled with the most beautiful books she had ever seen. This room was the only place that wasn't dark and didn't reek like the other rooms in this old castle. The library was slightly away from the other rooms and the corridor that led to this room wasn't in such a bad condition either and it was also probably the reason why it had survived longer than the rest of the castle.

She spent much of her time here, reading the books that had the most brilliant stories on them, some of them even filled with some very colorful pictures that brought joy to her lonely heart. The books did not only give her something to spend her time on but they also gave her information from the world and its cultures, about the animals, nature and about the history. This was her only place… Her sacred place where she could stay, wrapped to her own imagination and thoughts.She didn't feel like home at this castle, but there was no place other where she could live. This castle had become to be her home ever after the day when Ultimecia had found her laying unconsciously on the beach near this castle, her memories from her past completely washed away. Yes, she had amnesia, but she had started to get used to living with it. Even when she often wondered about her past and about her life that she supposedly once had, she tried not to think about it too much. She had found it much easier and comforting to just read books and not bother about the world outside the library and the castle.

But it was also hard to live like that. Being only in one place, head filled with questions about her past and the only contact to the outside world being the books and the knight…

The knight… She didn't understand why he called himself one, but she was very much depending on him. He made her feel upset. This was something that she had noticed from the very first seconds of meeting him… It was the first day of her present life. The day when she had woken up here, laying on the floor with only one blanket wrapped around her shivering form. She had opened her eyes and the first thing she had seen were the green eyes, which were looking down to her, piercing through her whole form. At first, she hadn't understood anything what he was trying to say, but slowly she had started to become aware of her situation. She hadn't know what to answer to his questions filled with haughtiness, insisting need to have answers, but when he had simply asked what her name was, she had said it… The only thing that she knew… Her name… Quistis Trepe.Suddenly the big door of the library started to open up, the rusty hinges of the old oak door squeaking a sound that made the shivers slowly go down her spine. She turned with shrugging shoulders toward the opening door, quickly covering her ears with her hands. The blond with a very annoying grin over his lips, looked toward her shrugging form as he continued to open the door wider, even when he was already on indoors.

"Stop it, Seifer…!" His smile just got wider, ignoring her demand completely as his eyes sparkled up with bullying gleam.

She kept her eyes closed up for a second before the horrible noise stopped. She opened her eyes carefully up and retreated her hands away from her ears when she stopped her angry gaze up to his approaching figure. "Well hello, Quisty…" He looked as smug as ever before, walking towards the big table in front of her and taking one of the red covered books into his hand, passing the pages through with a quick glance.

She hated when he called her Quisty. It never meant good.

Quistis walked pass him so that she could take the book away from his hands. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"

Seifer looked up to her eyes, which held a look of annoyance when she took the book from him and started to walk over to one of the bookshelves.

"Sorry, I forgot…" He looked after her devilishly, when she started to put the books on their right shelves. He sat himself down to the corner of the wooden and sturdy table, tossing the end of his jacket -in the way he always did- on the air before sitting down. Quistis completed organizing the books on the shelf and now turned to look towards the man, who was still sitting on the table, looking around the room, examining it with exaggerated expressions."I don't understand how you can stay here all day long… Here is so-""Clean…?" She suggested, as she started to walk pass him again, gathering some more books into her arms from the table."Exactly my point." Seifer smirked with a smug face, as he swept the wooden table with his two fingers, seeing that there was no trace left to the shining and clean surface. She took another sigh in, this time sounding like she became serious again, getting enough of the empty and endless blather the two always ended on going through. "You had something to tell me or did you just come here to waste my time…?" She said this sharply and it made him smile again."Well, I just thought you wanted to hear that the White SeeDs are out there again…""What…?!" Quistis turned quickly up to him, totally forgetting the books on her hands, the big novels dropping down to the floor.He chuckled and stood up from the table, glancing her with a smirk, fully enjoying the look on her face. He turned and started to walk away, while his words filled with haughtiness and with the simple mockery leaped out to the air: "Just as I thought…" Quistis stared towards his back, his mighty form disappearing to the darkness that the corridors were filled with. And that as her final sight from him, she stood up from gathering the fallen books and snorted, deciding that she wasn't going to give up like that. Before, she had never gone outside, but this time…

…she was going to go there too…

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A/N:** Review time...


	2. The Eternal Dance of Shadows

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**I'll be with You by Dawn**

Chapter 2: **Eternal Dance of Shadows **

  
  
The brooding breeze of late hours caressed her with long strokes across the fair skin of her face. Her restless gaze rested to the mighty forms of the high peaked hills standing before her azure eyes while her mind drifted with the force of the wind to the upcoming bloodshed that would soon brake down on this hill. The sun was burning down from the gloomy sky, the bright colours following the sun and lingering down to the wasteland horizon, shadows of few simple trees cast down to darken the ground.   
  
Her uniform -pale orange coloured skirt and tank top combination- followed her soft curves when the wind blew towards her, sweeping her simple clothes to caress her form softly. Her pale golden hair seemed almost like cornfields when they cascaded down against the sides of her soft expressions, while the rest of her hair was combed and tided loosely up to a knot to the back of her head.   
  
The sun, which was burning the sky with the colours of faint crimson, started slowly but surely slid down behind those mountains where she had kept her solemn gaze on. Seconds went by, sun went down, her eyes detected the few moving figures walking on the mountains, readying themselves for another battle. They weren't so far away from her and she knew already who was on charge of these soldiers that served the sorceress of this decade, Ultimecia and her army of Revengeful Knights.   
  
Almost like her thoughts were confirmed to be true, her eyes caught up by the faraway figure she would recognize anytime. Blond hair flowing smoothly by the guidance of the wind that danced with them, the grey long jacket on his sturdy shoulders fallen down to hide his mighty figure that the sun was gracing with its bloody edges.   
  
Seifer walked before his army and pointed his Hyperion in front of him before taking the destined steps up on the meagre path that led up to the top of this mighty but tired looking hill. Behind that hill, she knew it as many battles had been taken place there before, were the honourable White SeeDs ready to stop these wrongs at any cost but with no avail, she knew this by now.   
  
Those azure eyes filled up with blizzards in that instant when she looked those men and the shadows that their uncertain figures cast down to the low curves of that path they were walking on. Their figures were filled with the colour of that sun. That bloody colour that seemed to bleed down from them, reminded her yet again that this was wrong. And with this, she set her heart to do what she thought was right...   
  
"This has to stop now..."   
  


  
  
The ground they were walking on was hard and dry landscape and their feet were smashing the ground and sending few tiny pieces of rock to fall down the hill slowly, stopping down to some of the rare spots of grass the hill had close to its peak.   
  
The masses of soldiers were everywhere when he slid his stern gaze along the rough scene of the dry looking mountain that they were conquering once again. It was strange that even when they had only a little less than hundred men, now when they were spread over to this hill, it seemed like there were thousands of them.   
  
His gaze revealed the yearn of battle that burned on his chest more widely than before, when he looked through his army of soldiers and thought about the future fights they were going to win...   
  
He was going to win.   
  
Seifer looked up to the peak of this hill they were nearing up with their heavy steps, and the weak beams of the golden red sun were strong enough to blind his sight when they welcomed his waiting gaze.   
  
Fluttering his eyelids against his eyes, he took the final steps for reaching up to the peak. Step by step, the view that opened up when looking from this hill down to the dry valley, started to open up to its fullest. And the more he could see down to the valley, the more the feeling of victory in his eyes and face started to fade away like night into day.   
  
The valley. The sight that should have been filled with hundreds of men and women wearing their pure white uniforms, ready to face his army of dark Revengeful Knights, wasn't there.   
  
But the sight that he had before him, flamed a new fire of blazing fierce on his chest, and then the words filled with unseen hatred and sternness flowed away from his throat silently... So silently that no one else could hear it...   
  
"Leonhart..."   
  
An ebony haired man, the commander of those puny White SeeDs, was standing on the middle of the dry and harsh environments, his short hair flowing on the way of the breeze that blew behind him, the end of his short black leather jacket flickering against his waist.   
  
Squall was looking up to the puny looking hill, greeting his rival's green retorting eyes with his own cool menthol blue ones. The men, blond and dark, were like day and night. But no one knew who those two really were... At the times of war, they were just two commanders of two different sides, good and evil, one may say.   
  
The ground under the blonde's dark army of pledged knights started to tremble softly. Few tiny rocks rumbled down on the hill, bouncing up and down when the ground's tremors became stronger and more vibrant like an earthquake that had taken the hill over to itself.   
  
The dark army of knights started to look around themselves, muffled wave of questions and wonders washing over the confused army like awesome tides washing over the sea. "What the hell...?" Seifer looked down to his army from the top of the hill, his green eyes widened into searching slits of emeralds. His army started to become restless, when the ground didn't stop the trembling.   
  
Three to four soldiers of his group of Knights disappeared suddenly when the earth under their feet crumpled down. The screams of surprise and yelp of help joined to the noise of the crumpling stones, when the fog of smoke from the sandy and dusty hill covered their dropping figures with thick clouds.   
  
Seifer backed up with few steps when he kept his mildly confused gaze on his Knights that shouted for help when the ground engulfed their pitiful forms.   
  
The shock and panic took over the men quickly and they started to get away from the critical areas, their movements this time filled with more speed.   
  
Everyone started to run away and Seifer saw that his army was unorganised. This whole situation was starting to get out of hands and he didn't even know what was really going on...   
  
Seifer slid his gaze quickly, but still so calmly around the sight that started to have the signs of fiasco. But when one of the fog clouds started to fade away from one of those openings on the hill, he saw that there was something else than just a hole on the ground.   
  
The white, and this time also dusted up clump of machine, started to get up from the hole, and Seifer soon recognized this machine being a vehicle. The wheels under this white and silver edged machine started to help the heavy looking thing up from the depths of the ground and the dust started to grow over it when the tiny pieces of rocks crushed under its weight.   
  
The vehicle stopped up and its engine stopped from making the racket it usually made, when the door of this car-like thing, that had a dull drill on its nose, opened up. That machine, Seifer recognized it as it was one of the usual vehicles of White SeeDs, was called a Netrode. They were usually used as diggers when doing underground work in mines and such, but this was something that Seifer hadn't expected the ever-so-clever W-SeeDs to use this rusty and old thing for.   
  
Two men and two women like figures jumped up from the Netrode and took their weapons off from their sheaths so that they were ready to participate into a fight with the Knight's army. More SeeDs wearing their awfully well known uniforms coloured up with their custom key-colour, jumped off from the suddenly appeared Netrodes and attacked the still confused soldiers of Seifer's force of Knights.   
  
Not letting this opportunity slip away from him, Seifer raised his shining Hyperion up to the air, some of the lazy beams of the late sun behind his haunting figure glistening down on his sword like drops of blood, and he shouted from the top of his lungs.   
  
The SeeDs may have won the prelude of this fight, but Seifer was ready to make sure that they were going to live up to the promise they had made for their leader, Ultimecia. They were going to win the finale and bring the SeeDs' heads to her.  
  
"ATTACK!"  
  
Not needing any more encouragement, the men of his Knights wearing their dark uniforms, ran down to meet their enemy and readied themselves for another battle to survive with honour.   
  
Seifer's satisfied gaze rested down on to the unmatched colours, horrendous black and pure white melting together, when the two different armies kept on fighting, their swords clinking against each others, the looks of honour written clearly across their expressions.  
  
Everything was perfect now. That was what he was thinking when looking down to their battles, knowing that this all was under his command, this whole army ready to do what he said... He had always loved to be the one in charge, so when Squall had became the commander of White-SeeDs, he was more than happy to leave their _'so beloved Garden'_   
  
God, how much he despised them. They were nothing compared to him _or_ to his army. They were just impudent mortals, just like Ultimecia had outstandingly said for many times already.  
  
And that Leonhart… What the hell did everyone see from him?   
  
Seifer's mind drifted to his dark-haired rival and he soon remembered Squall standing on the valley down from this hill. He turned with a flip of the end of his jacket and took one more step up to the hill before he reached the top again. Like an eagle stalking for its prey, he moved his sharp gaze to the dry valley surrounded by the dried up trees. But when he slid his gaze on to the horizon, he soon realized that his gaze was looking at no one.  
  
Those emeralds kept themselves as sharp and vicious as ever when he couldn't see the lonely wolf standing under his gaze.  
  
He took a deep breath, the sun caressing his face with the red colours that warmed his skin like blood wiped on to his forehead, and the sounds of ongoing battles behind his back faded away to the background when he already knew where the broody man had gone.   
"Just you wait, Leonhart... Just you wait..."   
  


**A/N:** It will take some time before I update with the next chapter. I'm still trying to rewrite a part of it. Reviews, like always, are very welcome.


	3. Deceiving Sunset

**A/N:** Chapter 9, which is a chapter that hasn't been published before, is under work and coming up nicely, so new material is on its way, but I will update it only after I've re-checked these chapters first. So please be patient. As to my new readers who haven't read this story until now, the chapters will be coming out more freguent from now on. Thank you for all your support.

**I'll be with You by Dawn**

Chapter 3: **Deceiving Sunset **

  
The sunrays landed softly onto his solitary features and brought an eerie lighting with the colours of orange sunlight and the light shadows. The light was warm, but all that he could feel was the darkness. The picture that the sea and the sky made up was calm, almost soothing, but it had no effect over him. 

The edge of the sea slipped against the shores, caressing the sand with the cold salt water before retreating back and leaving a wet trace to the shoreline. The wind roamed gently above the calm sea, and the soothing tunes of the sea and the breeze were both singing in unison.

But the feeling of peace that the fragile song brought to its listeners was just an illusion to him. An image that wouldn't last for long…

His thoughtful eyes slipped down from the sky back to the belt around his waist, where the sheathed gunblade was resting against the side of his steady leg. Passing his gaze further down to the gunblade, he started slowly to draw it away from its sheath. When the first inch of the blade was revealed, the lazy sun was able to shine directly down to the blade and the eerie light jumped up to meet his eyes, preventing him from seeing. He closed his eyes down for a second and adjusted the blade onto his grasp so that the sunshine didn't dazzle him anymore, before he opened his eyes again and started to examine the blade more closely.

It was almost like blood, that red light of the late sun, sliding down the blade and staining it with blood. And Squall couldn't stop himself from thinking that his gunblade would soon be stained with real blood. With the blood of his rival…

Squall knew that he had to fight him. Even when he was hoping that he could speak some sense to that blonde, who had once been on the same side with him. But he also knew that talking wouldn't help. Perhaps it would slower down the certain, but it wouldn't stop it. Seifer was too stubborn. He was too stubborn to do the right thing. That was what Squall thought. He was sure that Seifer was just playing with the White-SeeDs and with the world. Seifer didn't take anything serious, except himself and his 'dreams'. To Seifer, this whole war was only a piece of the bigger picture. But to Squall the war was everything. He had no time to be playing with Seifer. And he had come here to stop those games… Once and for all…

The wind breezed from the sea again, quickly brushing his features with the cold wind before it calmed down. But the shivers stayed on his skin when he could hear some steps that were slowly approaching closer, before they stopped behind him about few metres away… It wasn't difficult to guess whose they were…

"Well, well… What do we have here…?" The familiar voice sneaked up to his ears, breaking up his thoughts with those words.

He had expected Seifer to find him here soon but still the blonde's arrival felt too quick for him. The wind roamed behind Squall's back when he finally turned to meet the smug face that was smiling devilishly, those green eyes retorting and arrogant.

"Enjoying the sunset?" Seifer moved his hand up to a wave over his head, signing to the magnificent background. "It's quite astonishing, isn't it?"

"I have no time for your games, Seifer." His words were out quickly, strongly opposing this start of a conversation.

"A game? No, my friend, I'm quite serious about this all." Seifer took few more steps closer to him, victorious smile flashing on his lips. "I'm a commander of the Revengeful Knights and I don't do games anymore..." He stopped with his steps and threw his Hyperion over the air, slashing the air twice with it and then steadied the blade in front of himself, loading the gunblade with a click. After his usual ritual, he dropped the blade down with his hand and met Squall's eyes again.

"I'm more serious than that…"

Squall placed his hand to the handle of his own gunblade and started to draw the blade out from its sheath. Seifer's eyes never left away from Squall's cold stare that was pointed directly at him, telling him that he was ready to start the battle as well.

"You? A commander? Perhaps, but it matters nothing when you're working for Ultimecia… You're opposing peace and I'm going to stop you even when you have once been a SeeD...." His gunblade was finally out, steadily placed onto his grasp of leather when he took a long breath in, trying to ignore the memories that he had from this blonde. Those memories that told him to put the gunblade back. Those memories of an orphanage that made him wonder why Seifer had become like this.

He brushed a loose strand of hair away from his forehead, pushing the picture of an orphanage away to the back of his mind. This wasn't the time for being uncertain. "Ultimecia is evil… And you've sided with her… She is using you, can't you see it?"

But he only chuckled at him.

"You know nothing, puberty boy… You don't have dreams like I have… My dream is to be the sorceress' knight, and it has become true… Nothing else matters to me… I don't care if I die, as long as I can live up to my dream." He moved the Hyperion up to the air, admiring the red light that shone from the tip of the blade, making the Hyperion seem almost holy. And in his eyes, it really was holy.

"It's impossible for me to lose…" The whisper was silent, only meant to be heard by himself and the holy spirits. The arrogant smile twisted its way up to his lips when he swung the blade quickly in front of himself, pointing Squall with the tip.

"Let the duel begin!"

The sunset was erased from Squall's mind when seeing the furious knight ran up to him. Seifer's Hyperion flew over the air towards him, but Squall dodged the first strike easily, and the second one that came hastily from the left and tried to sneak from behind was also stopped with a skilful dodge.

After a short moment, their shadows began to dance over the sand, leaping over one another while their battle continued. Their blades clinked against each other so strongly that sparkles were jumping up from the strong contacts of the weaponry. Seifer dodged the strike that sneaked from downwards and he gritted his teeth while pushing the Hyperion's blade with all of his strength against Squall's gunblade, forcing him to retreat away momentarily.

They fought like this battle meant everything. Perhaps it even did. They weren't really sure. All that they could surely know was that this battle was inevitable. They were both confident from their own skills but they also knew that their opponent wasn't easy. This battle was a struggle between two great spirits whose skills were equal to another. Both of them had lot to lose. And neither of them wanted to lose. Too much was on stake.

In a short moment, the peaceful shores had changed into a battlefield greater than life itself. The background was bloody with the red heaven and the sun that glistened the two men with a holy radiance. But not even the skies could have exceeded the brilliance that the battle between the two rivals held.

Strikes were changed repeatedly. Sweat spread slowly down their faces, and yet they continued with the fight that didn't seem to have an ending.

When the fight started to become too heated and they both saw that their strikes started to become tired, not as accurate as they should be, Squall was forced to run behind Seifer, to gather up strength for a new assault.

Seifer turned to meet him, his breathing uneven, his eyes burning with anger. He took one long breath in and attacked again, interrupting Squall's breathing pause.

Their blades sang with a loud clang, the sparkles jumping up to their eyes when the metals met again. But this time, neither one of them backed out from the contact. They put all their strength into pushing the blades against each other and it became a duel between them.

They fought. They fought so hard that they almost forgot to breath. The heavy salt drops slid down their foreheads, their gazes were locked and testing each other. They were battling with their eyes as well as with their blades. Suddenly Seifer got the overpower and his blade sneaked closer up to Squall who still tried to push it away with his own. It was nearing to his face and Squall's eyes turned to it. The gunblade was getting dangerously near and for a short moment, Squall felt powerless to stop it. One sweat drop slid down on his face and it curved down, slid against his lips and then it found its way into his mouth. Almost like getting new power from the salty taste that now invaded his senses, Squall gathered his lost powers and put his other hand to the blade and with it he pushed the knight roughly away, letting out a shout that was filled with hatred.

Overwhelmed by this power, Seifer's Hyperion flew over the air and landed somewhere behind him. He almost fell down as well but successfully found his balance after few steps backwards. Squall watched him with his eyes that were burning with unseen rage. Seifer didn't get the change to pick up his lost weapon when he saw Squall already running towards him. His gaze landed down to the blonde and it showed no mercy at all. Seifer was helpless when he saw the blade rising, saw his rival shouting, but didn't hear anything. He could only see the blade and the beams of the sun getting reflected from the silvery blade.

Soon the blade dropped down to meet its target and its tip slashed down to Seifer's face. It came in contact with his face on the middle of his sweaty forehead and went downwards to meet the bridge of his strong nose before it left away, leaving only blood gushing out from the new neat wound. And the blood spread down from the cut, curving down from the right side of his nose.

Seifer dropped down to the ground on to his one knee and let out a growl of pain. His face dropped down as well and he closed his eyes, trying to push away the pain that overtook his mind quickly, making it impossible for him to think clearly at that moment.

Squall watched him with a less rage than before, this time feeling a little bad from knowing that he had done that to him. He couldn't see Seifer's expressions that were covered behind his arm, but the pool of blood left from the strike down to the ground told him that the situation was real. He waited for Seifer to say something, to raise that smug face up and open his eyes. He was waiting for Seifer to be Seifer, to say something mocking, to try make this little victory seem insignificant and not so important.

But that never happened.

The pain started to fade away and Seifer soon realised what had happened. He opened his eyes and the look of pain was erased slowly, the stern look taking its place, twisting his lips. His blood ran down his face, staining his skin and giving power to his new rage that was being built into his chest. He changed his gaze up to Squall, gritting his teeth and warning him with his eyes. Squall flinched, but he didn't even notice doing so as he was completely stunned from those eyes. They were burning, pleading for revenge. Squall didn't see the flame that started to gather up to Seifer's palm, he only saw the rage.

The burning hate was evident on that face and Squall was almost blinded by it, forgetting completely to watch out for Seifer's next move. Seifer flew his hand in front of himself and then Squall saw the start of fire on that open palm, but it was all too late. The blaze of fire started to go circles and it soon formed into a fireball. And then between his gritting teeth, Seifer vowed the spell with his voice before sending the fireball to its way: "FIRE!"

Stumbled by it, not being able to evade the fireball that came closer to him quickly, Squall was struck with the fire spell and lost his balance and the grip over his gunblade that now flew away from his reach somewhere down to the ground. Stumbled to the ground, bend down on his one knee and his head buried down on his one hand, Squall tried to gather himself up but was failing in it when the headache started to grow worse. Not letting this change to attack slip away, Seifer leered to take his Hyperion back to himself and steadily settled it into his grip. He landed his eyes on the blade, and only with that one glance, he made it become one with him again, ready for the final attack.

After Squall got his composure back and he heard the shouts of the approaching rival, he watched up to him and instantly knew what was coming up. He tried to take his gunblade up so that he could defend himself, but he soon forgot even thinking about it when he saw from the corner of his eye that someone was running up to the hill. Squall flew his gaze to the hill and found a woman standing there, taking a breath in and trying to get her breathing steady. Her body stiffened when she finally saw what was happening and her hands flew up from shock. And then the words so clear and inevitable ran up from her throat out to the air.

"NO! STOP!"

And after those words, Squall heard nothing. He just watched the woman. She was young, her hair was almost golden red when the sun ran over them and her eyes were filled with the hurting knowledge that there was nothing she could do to stop the blade from going down. He was lost to the sight and suddenly a memory that was blurred from all the years that had passed became so clear that it was almost like he was watching it right now. And only with that sight Squall was reminded from something that he had almost forgot. The memory of a young girl with cornflower blue eyes and golden hair, waving for goodbye, her eyes filled with tears...

Squall's mouth was speechless and his mind forgot that the blade would soon meet up with his face. None of that existed now, there was only the girl, crying, waving so much that it made Squall wonder how those little hands worked.

Awaking from this memory, from these sudden sensations, was not going to be pleasant. The Hyperion dropped down and the tip of the blade slashed down against his forehead and the cut it made was almost similar with Seifer's, only that the direction of the cut was the opposite.

After the first splash of blood that came out when the cut was made, the blood started to gush more evenly down from the wound, staining his face and blurring his eyesight with the redness when some of the drops flew to his glistened eyes. But only when he could feel the warmness of his blood sliding down on his face, Squall finally understood what had happened and what was the cause for this pain that had interrupted his memorizing.

Seifer took a step away from him, enjoying his handwork with his eyes. Now he had gotten his revenge and he smiled victoriously, but it soon faded down when he saw the woman, who had just a moment ago shouted him to stop, running down to the battlefield where the two places of sand were stained with the blood that the two commanders had sacrificed to this battle.

Quistis ran between them and stopped. First she watched to Squall who was still laying on the ground, leaning his face against his hand and trying to stop the ache that ate his mind, and then she watched back to Seifer, now also seeing that his face didn't look any better. The blood looked horrifying and the look of new anger that came up to his stained, but still very mocking face, didn't help it either. She almost felt scared, but she also even felt a little sympathy towards this blonde who just barely got his eyes removed from her face back to Squall on the ground.

A little pool of blood was gathering down to the sand from the little droplets that dropped down to it, when Squall slowly raised his tired gaze up to his rival that was now shouting something to him.

"Get up, Leonhart! Don't think that this battle is over yet! This was only the beginning!" The anger was clear, the will for continuing the battle was unique and Quistis knew that Seifer was serious. He wasn't going to stop that easily.

"Seifer! Don't!" She jumped to Seifer's way when she could see his shoulders stiffen and his form move slightly, almost as he was just now going to walk up to Squall and continue the fight.

His infuriated eyes met with hers, this time moving his anger down to her. "Get out of my way!" She seemed almost puny beside his strong and raged form, but her shoulders were steady, ready to stop him even when she knew that she didn't have enough power to do so.

"No! I'm not letting you two do this!"

"Damn you, Trepe! Get out of my way or I will not hold myself responsible from my actions!" Seifer saw that she was as serious as he himself was and it made him even more angered, even resentful towards this woman who seemed to hold so little respect towards to him. But even when his form started to become hostile, she stayed still, her eyes were almost like steel and her will was supreme. Seifer took a deep breath and it was warning her for the last time. The gaze held threats, things that should have stayed uncovered, and they all knew that he was as serious as hell, but still she didn't even flinch.

"No…" His voice was almost weak, but it held a strength that was well balanced when he tried to stop the two from getting into a fight. Quistis looked over her shoulder to the ebony haired man, whom she was guessing to be the commander of the White-SeeDs. She had never met him before, but somehow he wasn't disappointing her with his appearance. He looked like a great leader, that she could see and she understood why Seifer was so jealous about that status.

It was understandable that so many people depended on that man and followed him. Even she would have been ready to follow his lead, even when her only opinion from him was based on his appearance and the things that Seifer had told to her. The pieces of info that Seifer from time to time had dropped to her about this man, weren't flattering, but she knew that they held utter lies, half covered answers and things that left the veil of mystery hanging down. She knew that there were many things that she didn't know, but she was more than ready to find them out. She wanted to get part of this, half because the things around this war interested her and half because she couldn't remember her own life's tale.

"Seifer, we will end this here and now… I'm not finished with you either." Squall got up from the ground with one steady move and took the gunblade from the ground, gripping from it like he had never touched it before. His eyes were determined to end this here, both Quistis and Seifer could see that, but she still wanted to avoid it from happening. She couldn't let them do it…

When the air suddenly filled with a noise that rose above the wind's soft roaming, Squall was the first one to raise his gaze up to the hill. Quistis did the same and she was still wondering what this noise was. She had heard it many times before and so she knew how it went: the long noise grew over before it stopped into a short silence and then it again increased. It was a trumpet or some kind of other instrument, she recognized but she didn't know what it meant.

"Dammit… It's over already?" She flew her gaze to Seifer, who looked up to the hill, his face filled with disappointment. So it was the White SeeDs alarm telling that the battle was over and that the other SeeDs had assembled up to some meeting place. Now she finally knew it.

That also explained why she had heard it before. This noise was always heard after one of the many battles, and the every time it was heard, she had been on the library, listening the alarm through her opened window. But this time she was there, in middle of one of the battlefields that she had always before avoided.

Squall ran quickly up to the slight hill, his smooth way of moving getting Quistis' acknowledge. He stopped at the hill and watched down to the fields that lead to that another hill where the two armies had began their battle. His form was almost like painted against to the red sky and the light layered over his shoulders, back and legs made Quistis think that it was his aura. Steady, strong and courageous. Ready to face anything. Ready to take responsibility from his actions.

He looked back, more to Seifer than anything else. "Think about what I said, Seifer… You still have the change to retreat." Seifer answered to his words with an evil snort, his grip from the Hyperion tightening, hating for letting Squall have the last words.

Squall's eyes then moved back to Quistis, totally ignoring the hatred that radiated from Seifer who was right next to her. She looked back to him and her eyes were steady, trying to read what this dark haired man had on his mind, but she saw that she couldn't read anything. He was totally closed up. But still… Still she could see something. Something that erased everything else, something that seemed to even make himself feel different, somehow unbalanced.

For a second, Squall's eyes were being captured by her familiarity, but then he turned away and ran down the hill. Quistis' hand moved almost unconsciously towards to the disappearing form, but she soon retreated the hand when realizing what she had just done.

Seifer snorted. She didn't know whether it was pointed towards her or to Squall's sudden fleeing, but it made her feel unsecured. When she looked to him, she saw him glaring to her, anger being clear in those eyes. Then he left up to that hill, trying to see Squall's back, but surprisingly enough couldn't see anyone.

"DAMN!" He swung the blade over the air, obviously trying to calm himself down. He hated to be interrupted, and when it happened twice in such a short moment, he got really pissed off.

Quistis glanced at his back and sighed softly when hearing his grunting continue and then she turned away from him, facing the sunset that was now going to be on its brightest. She stepped towards it, circling her hands around to herself while trying to gather her confidence back. The sun was the reddest that it had ever been, the air was burning with the sun's last beams before its dawn, and the sea was surprisingly calm, ready to face the soft blanket of evening. The sky was red but it was getting darker, the velvet of stars waiting to be discovered completely, and when looking at them, she felt her heart to be on a mild peace. But the look that Squall had given her was still making her trembled. What had it meant? What did this whole stupid war meant? Why did Seifer do something like this? No matter how much she thought about it she couldn't get any sense to it.

After getting some of his steam out, Seifer finally turned to look at her and found his eyes looking at her silent back. He looked her with a careful eye and tried to calculate the brunette and her way of thinking. She coming and interrupting the holy battle between him and Squall made him angered to her, to that woman who now seemed a little less fragile than before.

The sunset painted everything with blood. It painted her, the sky and the sea with blood. The sea was just a big pool of blood, the sky had a wound that bled and the blood ran down the surface, finally making everything become stained with the crimson liquid. This was what he saw when looking at the sunset and when admiring secretly the brunette's will of going on.

When pleading revenge to that woman.

Quistis turned to meet his half closed eyes and her eyes returned his mild fury. The sunset on the background, the blood staining everything and that gaze that she held on him, everything of it stayed with him. And even far towards to the future, he would remember…

He would remember how tranquil it was on that moment, how private, even when the hate had been so clear.

**A/N:** This chapter is one of the most significant ones in this story, even though it might not seem like it at first. This was and still is a really important chapter to me so I hope I got it right this time. Hope you enjoyed. 


	4. Reflections

**A/N:** Again, thank you for reviews.

**I'll be with You by Dawn**

Chapter 4: **Fleeing Your Past**

  
She didn't know how long she had been there, watching secretly how the soldiers went on their ways and finished their tasks given to them by their commander. Her steps were steady and slow and she had lost her sense of time when being outside here, her first day away from the haunting castle's capturing atmosphere. 

Her eyes wandered through the bypassing soldiers' expressions, trying desperately to memorize each one of them into her mind but failed in doing so when realizing that she couldn't even began to read them. The faces were everywhere, making her conscious about the fact that the battle was now over and that the night had fell over their battlefield. But for how long would this fragile peace be unbroken? For how long could they have a break from their endless battles? She didn't know the answers.

How long had these soldiers already fought? How long could they go on fighting before they would be totally broken?

These were questions that got repeated over and over again, like lost ghosts haunting her mind while her unconscious sleep.

The night was almost sparkling. It was a dreamless ocean hanging over their lost figures, and when Quistis was gazing up to those stars while her stroll, she wondered when all that water would fall down onto their shoulders. The eyes of the sky, thousands of them blinking, almost like wondering those same questions, gazed back to her inquiring gaze and sealed her mind away from any answer.

Her steps lead her safely in front of the tent that had its peak on highest when compared to the smaller tents nearby it. It stood alone, slightly away from the others, but it stood by with pride, and funny enough it reminded her from the person who was the owner of that tent. He was arrogant, he loved the attention, but hated to accept any help at all. He was the commander and he thought that was enough. But Quistis knew that it wasn't enough if you wanted to be a great leader.

Before, she would've thought Seifer to be perfect for pointing the way, but after seeing Squall she had immediately realized that it isn't enough if you are strong and stubborn to the end. Great leader must also be wise and careful. She was sure that Seifer wasn't lacking on those qualities, but that he just hadn't gotten a change to use them yet.

She drew the leather canvas away from the doorway and her eyes were met with a soft light coming from the torch that hanged down from the roof. The smell that gently slipped into her nostrils was a pleasant one. It was some kind of a mix between the mild smell of leather canvas and a vague fragrance of flowers, but there were no sign of flowers anywhere in the tent.

She saw the carefully piled up maps of the area on one of the three wooden chairs, and the only but still quite a good-looking and sturdy table made of oak wasn't unnoticed either. Overall, the neat interior didn't surprise her at all. No matter how little the time of having the 'joy' of knowing him had been, she knew that Seifer wasn't a pig when it came to keeping care of his own space, and that he was even somehow obsessed to look great, no matter how many wars were going on.

Her thoughts became all but steady when the man in question turned to glance the intruder of his peace. He only watched her once, glaring her with the same glare than he had only few hours back. His eyes held anger, but it was more subtle than before, the threats were also gone and she could see the change in them even when it was only a slight one. After few seconds, he turned to watch himself from the mirror again, continuing to wipe the blood away from his forehead.

She let the leather door slide away from her hand back to its place over the tent's doorway. Seifer kept on wiping his face with the white towel, ignoring the woman who had come to this tent for the first time ever. He turned the towel over, changing the blood stained spot to a cleaner one and then moved it back against his forehead, the smell of the clean towel being refreshing, almost unusually luxurious. But the feeling of luxury failed when the reek of his own blood sneaked to his nose, bringing back the heavy headache that had just moment ago left him at peace.

"Are you feeling alright?" She stepped behind him and watched his blond head, silently thinking that he needed a shower. His golden hair was messy and it slightly smelled with the mix of blood and sweat. Not such a great odor.

He watched the woman figure now getting reflected next to his form on the mirror and he thought that the picture looked ridiculous. It was almost like an abstract painting, there was too little space for both of them. The two of them in a same picture was too odd. He didn't answer to her, not even with an empty glance, he just watched the mirror and laughed inside himself. He brought the towel back up to his forehead and started to scrape away the last of the dried up blood.

She sighed, bringing her eyes to the mirror when she waited for him to talk. She was also captured to look at the picture that the mirror reflected, but she ignored the tall man standing next to her and just looked her own reflection. Only now she remembered that she didn't know what she herself looked like, as she had never seen her own reflection before. She noticed herself to be quite attractive, not as ugly as she had thought herself to be. Her slightly pouty lips were soft and the line of her jaw was neither too round or too sharp. It was a low curve, but it held her face up proudly. Her hair color was somewhere between blonde and brunette, not so exceptional colored, but still smooth and neatly gathered up to a loose knot to the back of her head. She was sure that this female, whom she had now met for the very first time, could have looked much better without the tired skin under her eyes and the face that never smiled or laughed.

Quistis looked into her own eyes, first with a passing gaze, but then looking sharply at them, focusing into reading the depths of those blue eyes. She wandered through those layers that she saw from the depths, and she saw that the darker blue around her pupils made her gaze more deep, somehow mysterious when she tried to see inside to her own mind and soul. Eyes are the mirror to the human soul, but she saw nothing from those eyes. The woman on this mirror had no past, no future, and no own opinions… She was nothing. And Quistis felt like the woman before her wasn't her, but somebody else. But she soon realized that she only hoped that this was somebody else.

Oh, how easy things would be then…

She removed her eyes to Seifer's mirrored picture that was still cleaning his own face. He had still said nothing. And she knew that the silent treatment that he was putting up to her was because of the things that had happened before the night had fell down. Seifer was trying to punish her from stopping the battle between him and Squall. She knew that Seifer was angry about it but Quistis also knew that he wouldn't be able to keep it on much longer. Seifer just always needed to open up his mouth so that he could say something arrogant.

It was almost like one of the laws of nature and she felt a little relieved to know that even when she was so lost in this world, she could always read Seifer, she always knew what he had on his mind. Everything always seemed to slip through her fingers before she knew what they meant, but Seifer stayed without any bigger question marks. Seifer was there. He was the most stable thing, beside her books of course, and it made her feel strange. To have that kind of a relationship between them even when they were practically enemies… Their point of views diverged from each other so much, but somehow it was always forgotten in the way.

"How long are you going to stay quiet?" He dropped the towel down from his hands to the table when hearing the question that wasn't really a question neither a sentence that needed to be acknowledged. He didn't glance at her, but he knew that her gaze was laid right on the middle of the reflection of his green eyes. He brushed his finger carefully through the cut over the bridge of his nose and when he thought that he couldn't feel his hand over the skin, he thought that the cut had become numb and so he pressed his fingers right down to it, like a child that couldn't stop poking a wound that was still healing up.

And then he noticed that it was anything but numb. "Ouch, dammit!" His hand flew away like he had just touched something that burned, and the ache flew over from his cut inside to his head. The painful waves went through his whole body from his head down to his toes, and then it jumped back, forcing even his eyes to close up from the impact.

She didn't smile, not even when part of her had enjoyed the outburst of pain, which she knew to be rare coming from this man. She took the closest wooden chair from under the table and turned the chair around so that its back was towards to the revealing mirror. Then she guided him by his arm to sit down to the wooden chair and he didn't try to stop her from doing so.

"Let me look at it." She moved his hand away from hiding the cut and met his silent stare that was revealed from under that same strong hand. She refused to look back at him and just moved her attention to the cut. It was a thin red line and it seemed to be a really neat wound. Most of the bleeding had stopped and the wound had already started to heal. He looked her eyes with careful obscurity and tried to make up his mind. He was angry to her, yes, but he was feeling that the will to revenge her somehow was fading away slowly, somewhere to the place in his mind where he usually stocked his not so good ideas so that he could erase them or bring them out again.

She moved the red kit, which she had brought with her, to the table by their side, and he watched her hand with a little smile tucked to the corner of his lips and eyes. She had brought her own bandage kit along even when he hadn't asked her to. He felt amused, but in the corner of his mind it began to change into some level of affection towards this woman who had now showed her new caring face to him. Soon, his smile formed a quiver of laughter, a shadow of a more heartfelt laugh, and it froze her hands for a second.

"What is it now?" She continued to open the kit and started to look it through while waiting for his answer. His laugh hadn't sounded as mean as it usually did, but it still made her feel cornered, like she had done something wrong, something that needed to be judged by him.

"Is this the only reason why you came here? To make sure that I'm alright?" He watched her eyes, wanting her to look back at him but knowing that she wouldn't do that. "Really, Quistis, I'm touched…" He moved his hand over to his chest, somewhere close to the place where his heart was beating, and he bowed to her slightly, with an exaggeratedly courteous tone on his husky voice. Her eyes flew over to him, now truly feeling cornered and also embarrassed. His eyes held the sparkle of laughter and when it slowly slipped down to his lips, his whole face was filled with amusement. And she was mortified by that look. She hadn't felt that there was something odd about her bringing this kit, but now she understood it. She had made herself a joke…

She carefully glanced the mirror behind Seifer's back, and watched her mirrored picture to make sure that she wasn't blushing. And she wasn't. When she could lean to this knowledge for support, she felt a little better and moved her focus back to the cut over Seifer's forehead. Slowly his laughter went away, but he still held the little sparkle on the corner of his eyes when watching her carefully again. She was cleaning the wound with a soft piece of cotton that she had carefully pulled away from the bigger set of cotton, and the cleansing liquid that she had dropped few drops to the cotton, had left a hint of a sterile smell to the silent air.

Her hands moved slowly, tracing the cotton piece against the wound, her fingers being careful not to give him any pain. She was gentle, slowly starting to slide the little piece of cotton over the red wound, and he just couldn't avoid himself from admiring those smooth hands and the woman who was so concentrated into her mission that she hadn't seen his lapse of thoughts. They just captured him, making him follow everyone of the movement of those hands with a careful eye, not wanting to break that image with any unneeded noise. But he made himself to stop it. There was no good reason to be watching her like this anyway.

"How is it like?" His question flew softly to the air even without him noticing it forming on to his lips.

"What?" The surface of the piece of the cotton had become red from all the cleaned up blood, and she changed it to a new one, putting the new white cotton ball between her fingers, slowly twisting it and moisturizing it with the cleansing liquid, before continuing to clean his wound with it.

"You know… Not being able to remember your past…" He swallowed his last words softly, trying to see how his question had affected her. She stopped with her work and her eyes got absorbed somewhere far away. Her eyes were targeted right down to him and for a while Seifer thought that she was looking at him, but then he soon understood that she actually didn't even see him anymore.

"It's… troubling… A part of me is missing and I feel myself hollow, somehow empty… Sometimes I do things that I don't even know myself doing…" Then she understood where she was and she continued to place the cotton over to his forehead. He saw that she now focused into the cleansing, but he could see that part of her was still missing.

"On the time of the last sunset, when I stopped you and Squall from fighting… It was like… like somebody else did that. It wasn't me… It was some kind of instinct that I don't remember existing. Many things that I do are based on those same vague instincts…"

His eyes dropped down, trying to think how it's like. Not to know why you do something that you do. Not to remember who you are or where you belong… Somehow, he could identify himself with that thought, and it wasn't hard either. But then the words hit him again. On the time of the last sunset… He was still feeling a little angry to her about the thing that she had pulled through then.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm fleeing from my past. That I don't want to remember something and therefore I decided to forget everything…" Quistis pulled her hand away from him. She put the last piece of cotton away, started to gather her things up to the kit, not noticing his figure that grew absentminded.

Her words rang in his mind and he soon forgot his final hint of anger. His eyes flee away from her onto the wall behind her shoulders and his gaze was motionless, oozing with thoughts that roamed through his mind, repeating everyone of her words, especially the word past...

"There are many ways to flee your past… Forgetting is only one of them…"

They were absent words, thoughts that only in accident wandered onto her arms, slipping into her ears that now listened to him.

She looked his eyes, this time with more interest than before, when she saw the change in them. Those eyes were now absent green, so open and calm, filled with secrets, hopes and dreams, failures and nightmares. Green ocean opened up before her and she felt that she could swim in those eyes just by looking at them… But no matter how open they were, she couldn't get a touch from them. She failed to read him, she could only look him over but she couldn't get a grip from his inner thoughts.

But one thing she could see. There was regret in those eyes. Regret that locked her up into his green eyes. And when she moved her eyes away from him, she could feel that part of her had stayed there into those eyes, trying desperately to understand him.

She closed the kit up and sighed softly, letting the words finally roll out of her mouth. It was better to move on again, because sometimes thoughts may just end up eating you. "It will probably leave a scar." Her voice dragged him away from his thoughts back to this tent and he pulled his composure together with only one snort accompanied with a wicked smile across his lips. "And perhaps you're a nurse…"

* * *

"It will most certainly leave a scar, Squall." The woman in front of him was somewhere in her mid forty and had a slightly plump figure. Her dark brown hair was highlighted with some slightly gray hairs, and her face was twinkling with a smooth smile and some little wrinkles across her face, most of them born from laughter.

She pushed herself away from her important patient, the rolls under her chair whining softly because of her weight, when she leaned to her working table, dropping one of the dirty cottons down to her trashcan. She turned back to him and saw him getting up from the examination chair and she saw that he wasn't really glad about the idea of having an eternal memento from his rival. Her eyeglasses dropped slightly from her eyes down against the bridge of her pointy nose, when she carefully asked the question that she had wanted to ask from the very first second, ever since she had heard the news about the duel between the two commanders.

"How is he?"

Squall leaned his head to his hand, hoping that the headache pill would soon do its job. He didn't need to ask Kadowaki whom she had meant with the question. It was obvious that Kadowaki wanted to know how Seifer was doing as she still somehow thought about him as one of them, as one of the SeeDs.

"Well enough to add a scar to me, it appears…" His reply was simple, with a hint of sarcasm, with the knowledge that he hated to have a scar made by Seifer. The only thing that gave him some comfort was the fact that Seifer had a same kind of memento. Memento of failing, made by Squall himself.

The little whispered laughter coming from the doctor on his left, told Squall that she was satisfied with the answer and that she wouldn't dig any deeper into the matter. He wasn't feeling up for answering, he just wanted to forget this and relax for a while before the war would go on again. But his mind soon forgot his will.

The picture of the girl came up again. Still she cried, still her eyes were stabbing him, her tears drowning him. And he didn't know how to stop them… The memory was again fresh and he felt wounded because of it. He had only survived this far, by forgetting that memory and now it had been brought up again, reminding him from his cowardliness all those years ago. She was so familiar, so alike with the little girl in his mind.

Trepe… Hadn't Seifer called her Trepe? Yes, he was now sure that he had said it…

The picture of the woman running up to the hill jumped out to his eyes, making him shiver. The resemblance was breathtaking, but Squall couldn't believe it to be true… He just couldn't make himself believe it, because it sounded so unbelievable, so stupid to say aloud to anyone else but to himself.

No, it was better to forget it… It wouldn't do good to just think about this. Why should you think even when you know that it won't help anything… This was his rule that he always wanted to follow. He hated to think about things that you couldn't change. He hated to have regrets, to think about something that you've done and hope that it would've been different. But then he understood that he had done that just few seconds ago. He held regrets, which for the first time in these five years of his life had been brought up from the corner of his mind where he had buried that memory away, hidden it carefully so that no one could see it.

Regrets became renewed in his mind when he breathed and made himself promise not to talk about this with anyone. Now the regrets were raw, making him stumble away from his rules and from the sturdy frames surrounding his person, but he decided that he would go on… Even with these memories.

The door opened after a silent knock that was heard without him realizing it, and a steel looking woman, a little older than Squall himself, but still as serious, hardened from the battles and deaths, came to the room and gave her news. The SeeDs had been able to locate Ellone as planned.

She indeed was being held captive in the Revengeful Knights' base.

**A/N:**Thoughts, comments? Anything? Please, I would really need some feedback now. 


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